So here we are at the end of phase 2.
There have been many positives and many negatives in the whole process. However, I am going to try and summarise them all up as best as I can in the this post without rambling on too much.
So the positives, commence the bullet point list:
- It actually works. There was always some niggling doubt in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t really have managed to make this work or if I did, it wouldn’t really have been very good at all. The basics of the idea/code are
- There are two of them. I didn’t set out to make two. In fact I only made two just in case one of them was messed up.
- I actually made it and attempted to make it all myself.
- It has a good design that I think was very difficult to achieve. The simpler the design usually means the more difficult it is to make.
- It looks quite good, albeit from a distance. However there is a piece of me that says I should have made it out of the cardboard in the same way that my mark 1 prototype was.
- I am partial to a good piece of packaging. I don’t know if that have been obvious from the past lot of posts (yup, that’s sarcasm). I think that the packaging adds to my project in that it makes my project more believable as a commercial venture. It also sums me up as a designer ( I think it does anyway). Thinking of the process from start to finish and not giving up until there is at least something how I want it, or going in the direction I want it. I never had an easter holiday, I basically have been working constantly since January. It might not seem it on the surface but I have. So… yes, the main subject of this bullet point is thinking about the project even further than just the project, thinking about packaging, manufacturing, usability, etc.
- It. Just. Works. Three words that are often touted in Apple Keynotes. But it was something that I wanted my product to do. I wanted it to just work. No pointless controls. No micromanagement by the user. No external controls. Just put your phone in and go. It just works! Giving the user too many things to think about, especially in a product that is to be used when they are going to bed is silly. Over stimulation of the brain will keep you up late into the night. I didn’t want any of that, so I didn’t give it any of that.
I am not going to do much of a negative list. I don’t think this is the right time to do this. It is too soon from getting it finished. I want to give it a good month or so as to not make the post too bias, but I will put together a short list anyway:
- The fit and finish of some of the parts. The spray factory let me down with the finish of the paint (including forgetting to paint a bit of it) and it has left me feeling a bit unhappy with the way it has turned out. The join between the plastic part and the coloured parts are also not too good. I couldn’t find anywhere that did thicker acrylic and if they did it would have been far too expensive. The join and the fact that you can see some parts of the join through the block. If I could have done it differently, I would have probably tried to get a slightly bigger piece of plastic, irrespective of cost, and mill out the edges of the top and bottom so it fitted snugly. I have solutions to all the problems but just not the capability to have achieved them myself or in the timescale left from when they happened.
- The fact that I wasted so much time trying to paint the project myself.
- I would probably say that making it in the layered fashion that I had done was a mistake too. It took far too long to cut the bits out, glue them, and sand it to the right size. It was about five weeks instead of the 5 days or so that it would have taken to do it in a more conventional way. In fact, in hindsight, I would have wanted someone else to have made it for me. I’m going to openly admit my strong point isn’t making. Doing things on the computer is fine and making quirky things that only I’ll use, yes, making something that is of a high enough quality that I think it will be marked well, probably not. I am likely being too cynical here though, I’m going to blame this on the fact that the making has just finished for me.
- My timetable didn’t go to plan. Maybe I was over ambitious. I don’t know. It seemed reasonable. The painting problem however, was a rubbish and the 2 and a half weeks wasted was my problem so there was time I didn’t get back…
I don’t want to go into much more detail, but as it is the negative list went on longer than I wanted. As I’ve mentioned, it isn’t something that necessarily should be discussed right away. Moving on, there are still some things that need to be done. There isn’t much but hopefully they can get done over the weekend.
- One great image (idea got, just need to do it)
- Video (idea got, just need to do it)
The Press release is done, and will be posted on here as soon as I have the 1 great image up. The video will be done after the photographs have been taken. I don’t really see it as essential to the press release to start off with but the sooner I can get it done the better. The packing of the box and sealing of it will be done early-mid next week and will not be touched or opened again until the presentation the following week. Next week I will publish my thoughts on manufacturing and other details like that along with putting it on my portfolio website, a republishing of my 100 words on here, my press release on here, my one great image,my video and finally but not essentially, a list of acknowledgements.
